Resource assignment and scheduling problems exist in many organizations such as, for example, those involved in service or manufacturing activities. The assignment and scheduling problems require the assignment of resources, such as technicians in a workforce, to appropriate tasks, and the scheduling of each technician at particular time when the task may be completed. Techniques for solving the assignment and scheduling problem must consider various factors including the scheduled times and durations of the pending tasks and the available technicians to do the task or job.
For example, an assignment and scheduling problem arises in the context in the maintenance service industry. A maintenance service environment exists in many organizations, characterized by service technicians committed to the repair and maintenance of a variety of machines, building equipment, etc. The maintenance service technicians travel to the locations to perform preventative maintenance and to provide repair services pursuant to required service calls/repairs.
However, many conventional resource allocation techniques fail due to not closely managing time commitments required to complete each task or fail to manage assigning tasks according to location which results in excess travel time for the technicians.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for optimizing the allocation of resources by minimizing technician travel time and technician costs, among other things, resulting in maximizing the utilization of resources for management systems.